The Tortie and the Fainting Goat; or, Our New Cats

Spousal Unit and I have kitties!

Cats, to be precise. We found them at a shelter, about a week ago, and when we finally decided which ones we wanted (two of the shyest), I went nuts with some kind of weird maternal nesting. It was bizarre. I even made these toys.

I'm glad the mouse turned out well; at first, it looked like a snake that had just eaten a mouse.

When our library was finally cat-proofed, bedded, and litterful, we went to pick them up. The ladies at the shelter had rather intense cases of "crazy cat lady," to the extent that, when Spousal Unit asked if the cats came with collars, one snipped, "Why do you want collars? Are they going to be outside? You don't need collars. They're microchipped. You're not going to let them outside, are you?"

Talk about freak-out.

The ride home was kind of nerve-wracking for the poor things (though the boy cat didn't move and didn't make a peep), but kind of exciting for us. They're finally getting more comfortable here, and they are less nervous exploring.

The girl is the tortoiseshell on the rocking chair; the boy is the black and white by the ottoman.

The boy is likely to be named Oberon or Romeo. So far, we know he's an attention whore and loves to be petted. He's more like a hunter when he plays, going for the kill on the mouse's body. He's also more of a scaredy cat, which we didn't expect - we thought he'd be the explorer. But once he's ready to explore somewhere, he's pretty confident in it.

He also laid in the litter box for the first hour or two after creeping from the carrier, meaning he was pretty scared. But aside from that, it was hard to tell. He hunkers down when he's afraid, and doesn't move. Kind of like a fainting goat.

He plays more like a dog though, and loves to lick us while we're petting him. So he's half dog, half fainting goat. Strange; I thought we were getting a cat.

I'm still debating on a name for the girl. I really liked Titania at first, till I said it outloud a few times. Lenore is anther possibility, though it doesn't fit her character well.

She was the first one to explore when we set her loose, and she's the troublemaker, too. She's knocked multiple books off shelves and tried to eat three of the plants. But she's quite skittish, too, and seems afraid of feet. We were told both of these cats were strays, but I think she had trouble in a home before that. She doesn't like being petted unless she's half-asleep; I think once she realizes we won't hurt her, she'll like it better.

Both have their left ears clipped (because they are spayed/neutered). The boy cat must have gotten into some fights, because he has a strange notch in the other one, too. They seem to get along fine so far, and have even been comfortable enough to play for a while.

Hopefully, they will be happy in their new home with us.